Ri916's FM 12 European Youth Academy Challenge

[brettney1980]

Full name Royal Football Club de Liège
Nickname(s) Les Sang et Marine
(The Blood and Marine)
Founded 1892
Ground Stade du Pairay,
Seraing
(Capacity: 6,744)
Chairman Jean-Paul Lacomble

Season 2024/25 - Season 13 - Belgian Pro League

I wish the Season could of ended after 4 games to be honest, because we were top then .. We never dropped any lower than 7th though all season so this can easily be said to be our best season yet. I thought we could make the Championship Group (although that would be scary because most the top 5 teams still hammer us regularly) where we sat most the season but we fell out of the top 6 in the last few weeks of the regular season (6 games to go) and finished 7th - Great going, happy with the position. Into the European Qualification Groups and we managed to win our group again and head into the Semi's and a date with huge recent rivals FCV Dender and a great result see's us into the final where we face AA Gent - Where the slap in the face known as the Away goals rule see's us miss out on a Europa League place.

Final Table - Euros Group

In the Belgian Cup we made our usual 6th round win and fell at the 7th and Cercle Brugge.

Finances|Confidence

Look no Transfers

Squad Stats

Player of the Season Award

The Youth of Liege ...

Dieumerci Tshibasu YP13a First Report
Jean Millot YP13b First Report

Andrejs Gorkss YP12

Przemyslaw Kaczmarek YP11

Yusif Okyere YP10a
Johann Renault YP10b
Batuhan Karabacak YP10c

Samson Okwara YP9

Gabiel Berger YP8a
Claude Roche YP8b

Savas Cekic TP7a
Vincent Dieudonne TP7b

Yassin Saykouk YP6

Ridvan Ibrahim YP5a
Vivian Causse YP5b

Laurent Fleury YP4

Philippe Langevin YP3a

Joren Capouet YP2a
Maxime Renaud YP2b

Ianis Engel YP1

[Shakes]

I was thinking of possibly deciding the leagues by using the top 8 based on the starting rep of their top division.

I would suggest top 8 by national youth quality ... subtle difference I know, but that is more of a factor than league rep when you can't sign players.

(Assuming nothing changes from FM12 this would make it Germany, Spain, France, Russia, Turkey, Italy, England and the Netherlands)

[brettney1980]

Full name Royal Football Club de Liège
Nickname(s) Les Sang et Marine
(The Blood and Marine)
Founded 1892
Ground Stade du Pairay,
Seraing
(Capacity: 6,744)
Chairman Jean-Paul Lacomble

Some extra stats of my Youth Tagged Players;

                           Pos     Age  Apps Gls/Conc Asts/Cln  MoM
Dieumerci Tshibasu YP13a  AML       16    5      1        3     0
Jean Millot YP13b         AML/C     16    4      1        1     0
Andrejs Gorkss YP12       MC        17    8      0        1     0
Przemyslaw Kaczmarek YP11 AMC/ST    17   28      5        3     0
Yusif Okyere YP10a        DM/MC     19   73      3        9     1
Johann Renault YP10b      RB/CB/DM  19   80      6        1     5
Batuhan Karabacak YP10c   ST        19   53      9        8     3
Samson Okwara YP9         CB/DM     20  126      6        5     2
Gabiel Berger YP8a        AML/ST    21   78      9        4     1
Claude Roche YP8b         DM/LB     20   95      3        5     0
Savas Cekic TP7a          CB/LB/DM  22  200      4        7    10
Vincent Dieudonne TP7b    AML/ST    22  125     15       12     1
Yassin Saykouk YP6        RB/WBR    22  151      2       12     1
Ridvan Ibrahim YP5a       GK        23  189     275      54     1
Vivian Causse YP5b        AMR/ST    24  179     25       30     5
Laurent Fleury YP4        AMR/C/ST  25  275     77       36    11
Philippe Langevin YP3a    AMR/C/ST  25  159     22       19     6
Joren Capouet YP2a        DM/MC     27  305     30       44    19
Maxime Renaud YP2b        AMR/ST    27  343     87       51    27
Ianis Engel YP1           LB/RB     28  120      0       12     2

[Shakes]

A.D. Pontassolense - Liga ZON SAGRES - 2033/34 Season - 2nd

Table | Position History

If last season was a break through, this season was when we became a force in Portuguese football.

Our strike force came together and what a joy it was to be able to score, we hadn't looked this potent since the days of playing in the 3rd tier! No longer were we grinding out results, instead we were regularly winning by multiple goals, and taking the game to anybody and anywhere. Previously there were encounters where we would be happy escaping with a draw, now even away against Porto I fancied our chances of coming home with a win.

Obviously Porto are still dominant and we have a ways to go in turning draws into wins before we can knock them off the top of the table (they've won 13 on the trot now), but given we were competing on so many fronts to wrap up 2nd spot with such ease was brilliant.

Champions League

Best Placed Qualifier : Drew Beitar Jerusalem and it turns out to be as favourable as it looked on paper, an easy 8-2 aggregate victory.

Best Placed Playoff : CSKA Moscow was always going to be a trickier contest. We outplayed them at home, but blew our 1-0 lead when they managed to hit a couple of long shots. We pushed hard on the away leg but they seemed happy to sit on their away goals, we could only put one past them so although the tie finished equal at 2-2 we were into the group stages of the Europa League.

Europa League

Group Stages : A bit scratchier than last year but we did enough to ensure we qualified.

1st Knockout Round : Wasn't happy to draw Arsenal who knocked us out last year. Kept a tight ship at home for a 0-0 draw, but considering the hammering they gave us away last time I didn't hold much hope, and when they took an early lead I thought that was it. Amazingly though we scored not once but twice from corners and hung on for dear life. They equalized in stoppage time but it was too late, a 2-2 draw suited us just fine.

2nd Knockout Round : After the last series Lille was a match up I thought was winable, and maybe that was our downfall in the home leg, as I pushed for a win and instead got scored on late to put us down 2-1. When they went into half time 1-0 up in the away leg I thought we were gone for all money, but we somehow managed two goals to tie it then with most of the team completely dead on their feet hang on to force a shootout which we won.

Quarter Final : Had to travel to Tottenham for the first leg, and with an injury and a sending off in the first 10 minutes things were looking grim as grim could be. When they scored soon after I thought they'd just pile on the goals and our only hope was to not completely shut up shop and hope we could hit them on the counter. Sure enough they saw blood and tried to bury us, but though they scored 3 we broke away for 3 of our own. After that the home leg was a simple 2-0 affair.

Semi Final : After what we'd been through PSV didn't look too bad, and sure enough in the away leg we managed a 1-1 result that left us in charge. We seemed to have command of the home leg, going up by a goal before an own goal just before half time levelled it again. Still we seemed the likely winners until having a player sent off for a second yellow. That changed the game, PSV were able to dominate possession from there and we tired from chasing them, the winning goal coming shortly before full time when we were just too slow to get back to cover.

Just like last year the team that put us out on the semi went on to win. Really can't complain too much after the way we rode our luck to get as far as we did.

Taça da Liga

Easy group which we did the job with and won our way out of. Semi final proved tricky, we were down 2-0 at half time but managed to turn it around enough to get into a penalty shoot out which went our way.

The final against Porto was a real roller coaster, we got ahead fairly early when Luis Fernandes (YP28a) got onto a long ball and was dragged down for a penalty which Romuald Monnier (YP29c) converted. From there it looked to be deadlocked, with them having more chances but us having better though neither side really looked like scoring. We lots both our starting strikers through injury so were looking more to just hang on until a defensive error played their striker onside and gave an easy chance in the 66th minute.

That seems to spur the game into action and eventually we were the ones to break the deadlock when João Carvalho (YP21a) slotted one home from a tight angle in the 85th minute. I made our last sub, swapping the tired Romuald Monnier (YP29c) for a defensive player hoping to hold on ... and of course we immediately concede an own goal. Disaster given I just subbed off our best penalty taker! I could barely look, but somehow we won the shoot out, I hadn't blown the game.

First real trophy in the cabinet!

Taça de Portugal Millennium

Almost bombed out in the third round, going behind in both regular and extra time before winning a penalty shoot out (boy my old luck has changed on them). From there we got a dream draw, not having to face a top tier team again until the final.

In the final against Sporting CP I was pretty confident, having beaten them 5-0 in our last meeting. The first half was a close fought afair, with us twice pulling ahead but being pegged back. The turning point was just before half time when they got a dubious penalty: our keeper saved it and that was all she wrote, we came out and had all the good chances in the second half, Marco Nogueira (YP29a) took them to slot a hat trick.

Sure it was no Europa League, but it was a pretty good consolation prize to end the season with. Both cups are now ours!

Youth Intake

Still not much to write home about, best player is yet another keeper. Only player I bothered tagging:

Diogo Lopes (YP34a) (Report) - MC - Gets a tag as much because we're begging for a young mid as much as anything.

Squad | Transfers

Again the squad looks stable as the lack of recent youth talent means none of the vets are being pushed out. However development from within was really the key to this year, our strike force was brilliant:

Luis Fernandes (YP28a) - 26 goals and 22 assists ... absolutely turning into the all round player I dreamed he'd be when he showed up in the youth intake.
Marco Nogueira (YP29a) - 24 goals and 11 assists in only 23(7) games, he's deadly and injuries did more to stop him than defenses did.
José Miguel (YP23a) - It's been a while coming but he's finally stringing games together without getting injured, and equal top scored with 26 goals despite being forced to the bench at times by the above two.

Next Season

I'm not sure if this is the end, but I'm not going to get through another season before the FM13 beta arrives. Pretty good season to leave it at I think anyway! I certainly wont be deleting this save, so we'll see what happens, I get the feeling it's going to be something I'll want to come back to at some point. The poor youth intakes may mean CL success is beyond them for a while, but I know the squad I have is good enough to win a EL if they just get the right breaks.

Season    Tier   Expectation        Predicted   Finished    Cup       L Cup     Europe
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   3rd    Avoid Relegation   14th         6th        2nd Rnd   
2013/14   3rd    Top Half            8th         2nd        1st Rnd   
2014/15   3rd    Top Half            4th         6th        3rd Rnd   
2015/16   3rd    Top Half            8th         3rd        3rd Rnd             
2016/17   3rd    Top Half            5th         4th        2nd Rnd   
2017/18   3rd    Top Half            6th         3rd        1st Rnd             
2018/19   3rd    Top Half            6th         2nd        3rd Rnd   
2019/20   3rd    Top Half            5th         1st        1st Rnd             
2020/21   2nd    Avoid Relegation   16th        12th        4th Rnd   Stage 2   
2021/22   2nd    Avoid Relegation   16th         1st        4th Rnd   Stage 1   
2022/23   1st    Avoid Relegation   16th        15th        4th Rnd   Stage 2   
2023/24   2nd    Top Half            7th        10th        5th Rnd   Semi F   
2024/25   2nd    Avoid Relegation   15th         2nd        4th Rnd   Stage 3   
2025/26   1st    Avoid Relegation   16th         7th        4th Rnd   Stage 3   
2026/27   1st    Mid Table          12th         8th        5th Rnd   Stage 3   
2027/28   1st    Mid Table          12th         7th        Semi F    Final     EL Group Stage   
2028/29   1st    Mid Table          10th         9th        6th Rnd   Stage 3   
2029/30   1st    Mid Table          11th         7th        4th Rnd   Semi F    
2030/31   1st    Top Half            9th         7th        5th Rnd   Stage 3    
2031/32   1st    Top Half            8th         8th        Semi F    Stage 3    
2032/33   1st    Top Half            7th         3rd        Semi F    Stage 3   EL Semi F
2033/34   1st    Top Half            7th         2nd        Winner    Winner    CL Best Placed Playoff/EL Semi F

[ri916]

Shakes- What a season to end it on if that is the case at least for now! Will you be having a go at this for FM13? The new thread is now up!

[Shakes]

Not going to start anything long term on the beta, but when the proper release comes I'll probably give LLR's Big Euro Challenge a go first for a change. Don't think it would be right to try this again before I win a European competition with my boys from Pontassolense: especially since they got promoted so aren't a valid team in FM13.

[stephen_atk]

Season 8: 2019-2020

Main Squad

The season started well with us picking up more silverware in the shape of the Champions Trophy. Despite never having beaten PSG before we'd raced into a 4-0 half time lead. PSG didn't start with their strongest line up but made changes for the 2nd half including bringing on Benzema, who scored a 16 minute hattrick. Luckily we managed to hold them at bay for the rest of the half and ran out 4-3 winners.

The cups were our forté last season having won the French Cup and having a good run in the Europa League, however it wasn't to be this year. We lost the 1st games of both the Coupe de Ligue and French Cup. We also crashed out of Europe at the group stages where we were drawn with Arsenal, Heerenveen and Legia Warsaw.

So I had often used excuse of 'being able to concentrate on the league' to fall back on. In all honesty last years cup runs had affected our league showing, finishing 10th (our worst finish since returning to Ligue 1). Despite losing the opener at home to Marseille, we started well and found ourselves in an around the Europa League spots. Even now I still having a nagging doubt that we are still largely a bunch of untried youngsters and we'll eventually fall flat, so I always look to hit the 40 point as soon as possible so I can relax a bit. We had 39 by the winter break which made me optimistic for the remainder of the season. We avoided our usual new year slump and although Marseille and Lyon had cut themselves clear in their battle for the title we were well in the hunt for the 3rd Champions League spot. Some big wins, including 7-2, 5-1 and 5-0 away at Dijon, Arles and Lorient respectively had me believing we could do it, we even managed a rare win against Lyon, indeed with the 3 games left we were 3rd, but with a nightmare list of games remaining. First up were Caen who were 4th, a home game against 5th place PSG, we finished up away at champions Marseille. The Caen game was key, if we beat them we'd be 4 clear with 2 to play. They went 2-0 up early on but we kept going and equalised on the stroke of half time. 5 minutes into the 2nd half we took the lead, but it wasn't to be, they quickly equalised, our heads dropped and we slumped to a 5-3 defeat. We drew with PSG, but Caen also won their next game to seal their 3rd place finish. Gutted.

Final Table
Player Stats
Transfers

Youth

The youth are really coming good. The reserves made it into the CFA-C again but finally managed to stay having always previously been relagated, it's a great way of blooding by youngsters who are getting too old for the Under 19s, there's some proper teams in these divisions trying to get up to the National and also some really strong reserve sides from top Ligue 1 sides. The proper youth team (under 19s) had done well the last few years finishing 3rd then 2nd. This season seemed like fate and, playing a new formation, they duly obliged, we walked the league, breaking the 100 point barrier with a +65 goal difference.

Under 19 League

Intake was good but not as many players to mark up, which I'm kind of pleased about as the squad is getting very big. Think I need to be more brutal with who I retain in future, but I feel bad releasing players!

Youth Candidates
Nenad Toljagic YP08a
Mark Joinville YP08b
Redouane Bekouchi YP08c

I guess more and more are gonna drop out of this challenge to play FM2013. I've got access to Beta but feel of got unfinished business with this challenge so will continue on for a few more seasons at least.